Talk to me about reworking one of these. Are they hard to re-barrel? Are caliber conversions from say 308 to 7-08 easy? Will the receivers take to color case hardening? Is the stock a PIA to replace or fairly straightforward? Any other pitfalls?

TIA

I have not rebarreled one, yet.
I do have some barrels and the threads are not V, they are square.

A 'smith named Dick Hunt in Winston-Salem N.C. is Rebarreling a 99 for me. It was a 243 and its gonna be a 260 when it comes home. A bit of searching should come up with phone number, because I dont have it handy...He didnt have nasty things to say when approached with the job, and it wasnt his first 99. Might be worth a call.

Kentucky Nimrod,
There is a great article on "Converting the Savage 99" published in the Amer Rifleman back in Jan 1973 - I believe. You can go to the www.savage99.com and look at the "Other Publications about Savages" link / page to find the exact reference. I dug up a copy at my local public library. The article is written by none other that Robert J. (Bob) Snapp the retired gun/metalsmith. He describes many conversions and identifies the differences in the actions.

I'm thinking of building a post 1907 (S/N over 80,xxx - identified by the radius on the back of the breech block) 1899 action as a 6mmx250 Savage for a light varminter. Just need to find the right action at the right price. I just love the lines of the early 1899's and their nice balance with a 26" pipe. Needless to say I have several, even some rarer calibers like .38-55 (oct) and .32-40 (T/D)

Good luck! Jeff P

[ 01-17-2003, 01:12: Message edited by: Pfeifer ]